It's Beginning

Pozdrav friends!

Sincerely hope all is well at home. The seasons are
definitely beginning to change here in Slovenia. The weather is
somewhere between 60-80 degrees depending on the day, and the leaves
are beginning to change colors. A little more color here than in
Texas, that and A LOT more green. But that's a really good thing! The
first sign of snow way up in the top of the mountains has showed up,
so now it'll be fun to watch that line slowly get lower and lower and
lower until it reaches us here in Kranj.

This week has been a particularlly interesting week. Lots and lots and
lots of walking. But I don't mind. We're walking though one of the
most beautiful places in the world! Last Wednesday, I think it was, we
took the bus to a person's house we were meeting with, about a 15 minute
ride to a town called Moše. Unfortunately, he wasn't home, and the next
bus to pick us up was something like an hour and a half out, so we
began to walk. And walk. And walk. And walk. I think we left sometime
around 7ish and got back home in Kranj around 9:30ish. A good
experience, long, but good to see the whole landscape. We figured the
distance we walked was just over about 1/4 the distance to Ljubljana.

We've also been doing a lot of work in a town to our north called
Tržič. Further north into the mountains. It's a nice, small, quaint
town tucked into a narrow river valley of the mountains. there's an
inactive member there we've been meeting with and helping who hasn't
been contacted by anyone in the church for something like 4-5 years
and missed the contact! He was so excited when we found him. But
everytime we go up to Tržič, something good always happens! Without
fail, we've always found someone who's interested in hearing our
message there.

Truly, serving a mission is a blessing greater than any other
experience on Earth. Of all the things I learned in the university,
none of them can compare to the things I am learning here. Things like
learning to live in a foreign country, to truly learning how you
learn, the digging even deeper into the simple, profound, and eternal
truths of who we are, where we came from, why we are here, and where
we go after this life. It's so true what people say that when we teach
something ourselves, we are the ones who are really being taught, not
the people we talk to. I can already tell that the lessons I am
learning now will take me through the rest of life and beyond. Lessons
that cannot be learned any other way than by doing.

If any of you are even considering serving a mission, know this. Stop
thinking and do it. It will be the best choice of your life and will
affect everything you do afterwards for the better. We know that if we
have the desires, we are qualified for the work. The Lord can do all
things, and in us can prepare us in ways we don't even recognize or
imagine. And preparation never ends either. We are always being
prepared for new experiences in the future designed specifically for
us. But remember this. For all the preparation you put in, there will
come a moment when the time of preparation passes and the time for
action comes. Fear not, for fear is the opposite of faith. And in
faith we can do all things for God will enable us. And it is not until
after the trial, or test, or experiment of our faith that we receive
our witness that the thing we have faith in it true, right, and a
blessing in your life.

I pray all is well in your lives. I have a cool plan in mind to share
a part of Slovenia with all of you that write me letters. The first
batch should be mailed off today ;-)

Much love,
-Your Brother, Starešina Cameron Benson